Officec



( Model E. WESTON.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION OF POWER.

No. 291,445. Patented Jan. 1, 1884.

270 aZZ whom it may concern:

I UNITED STATES EDW'ARD WESTON, OF KEWARK, NEW STATES ELECTRIC LIGHTING CO PATENT JERSEY, ASSIGXOR TO THE ITITITEI') HP; KY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

lSSlOIl OF POWER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291,445, dated January 1, 1834.

Application filed Xovember T, 1892. (Xu model.)

Be it known that I, EDWARD WEs'roN, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Regulating the Electrical Transmission of Power, of which the following specification contains afnll, clear, and exact description, the present application being a division of an application filed by me May S, 1882, Serial No. (50,706.

My invention relates to systems involving the conversion and transmission of power for general useful purposes, by the employment of dynamo-electric generators and motors, the invention having reference more particularly to a new method of efi'ecting the regulation of the generator or generators withrespect to the amount of current produced, whereby more or less current is generated as the load of the motor is increased or decreased, and its speed correspondingly varied, thp object of the in vention being to maintain as uniform a rate l of speed in the motor as possible withoutloss of energy.

In certain patents granted to me on applications filed May 8, 1882, I have shown and de scribed various specific ways of carrying out i the invention. For instance,with a circuit ineluding a generator and motor, I have combined electromagnetic devices for interposing resistance in the field-circuit of the generator. I have also employed similar devices for shift ing the comnurtatorbrushes, and have produced similar results by other means, all of which operate to preserve the speed of themol tor uniform by varying the amount of current i given off by the machine proportionately to the load imposed upon the motor, and which involve as essential mechanical elements a generator, a working-circuit, a motorincluded therein, aregulating-circuit, and devices therein controllable at or by the motor for varying the current produced by the generator. In the present instance I effect this result by exciting the field of the generator by a current of constant electro-motive force, regulating the current flowing in said field bya counter electromotive force, and varying the counter electro motive force in proportion to the speed of the motor. The apparatus which I employ for this purpose and the conditions under which the same is employed are as follows:

I11 any given circuit Iinclude the armature 5 of a dynamo-electric machine and the armature and field of an electromagnetic motor. The former is arranged to be driven ata practically-constant speed by a suitable source of power. By the same source of power I also be drive a small dynamo-machine of very high electro motive force, which I call the exciter, the circuit of which is made to include the coils of the fieldonagncts of the main generator, and is then carried to a small machine, which I call for convenience the op poser, and which at a given rate of speed has a lower elcctro-motive force than the exciter. The opposer is geared with the motor and connected up in such manner as to gener- 7o ate a current opposed to that of the exciter.

To obtain the relative degrees of electroanotive force in the exciter and opposer, it is not neccssary that they be of different construction, for they may be in every respect alike, but run at different speeds. For example, the pulley by which the excitcr is driven may be of considerably greater diameter than that by which the opposeris run. This, together with the normal difference in the rate of speed of So the two pulleys, will produce the desired effect. I r

The principle'of operation of this system will be readily understood. The field of the generator will be energized by the current from the exciter, notwithstanding the opposi tion to this current from the opposer, for the reason that the eleetro-motive force of the latter is much less than that of the cxciter. Should, new, the speed ofthe motor vary, by 0 reason of a change of load or other cause, the speed of the opposer driven by it also varies, and more or less current will in consequence flow through the fieldcircuit of the generator, thus regulating the strength of the field-mag- 5 nets and of the current generated by the ma chine. In this way the power transmitted from the generator to the motor will always be in proportion to work done. This method of regulation, when carried out by means of ice 5 essary regulation; and, as will be seen, this IO erence to the accompanying drawing, wherein 2 half of this circuit may obviously be through 50 this shaft power is derived for running the s specifical y claim her in, the same rm the instrumentalities which I have now described, involves,therefore, a main line including only a generator and motor, and an independent and parallel line for effecting the neolatter circuit may or may not be the means of exciting the field of the generator, according to the nature of the regulation. The invention will be now described by refthe system is illustrated by a diagram.

A A designate the conductors of a circuit supposed to extend from a source of electrical supply to a motor located at any desired distance from the same.

'13 is a dynamo'electric machine for furnishing current; 0, a motor to be driven by the gujlirrelaw D is t Par l latin -ar t c (Queoneof the main conductors) which includes a small m hine It t e fie d f th ene or 13,, and a small opposer, F. Evidently the current for excitingthe field of the generator may be derived from any other source which furnishes a current of normally constant strength.

I? is the shaft, from which power is obtained to drive the main generator B and the exciter 1 1. l is a shaft driven by the motor, and from opposer F.

"The invention, as described in connection with a singlegenerator and one motor, is evidently applicable to systems including more than one generator and several motors, when the, latter are employed con jointly.

The ma n advantages f th y t m r su t frqm'the fact that the motor, which is often'losu pl dw r ne tim u t fcurr jnt'necessa-ry for working under the, most eff. f c ent conditions, and this without the intro duction, as is usually the case, of deadresista co in the main circuit. i f

In this application I have shown,- in combination with a dynamo-electric machine, a devicefor producing counter clectroj-moti've force in the field-circuit of said machine, and a niotor for driving such device. This I do not men:

\V l at I claim is I he, subje the apn a ionj 0rLe ters 1. In a system for theelcetrical transmission of 'power, the combination of a generator, a motor, a circuit connecting the generator and motor, and an independent regulating-circuit, and means included therein, for controlling at the motor the current generated or power transmitted.

2. In a system for electrical transmission of power, the method hereinbefore described of regulating the current generated, which consists in exciting the field of the generator by a circuit of normally constant electro-motive force, regulating the amount of current flowing in said circuit by a counter electro-motive force and varying the counter electro-motive force in proportion to the speed of the motor, as set forth.

3,. The combination, with a main line, a generator of electricity, and a motor included in the samc,'of an independent regulatingdine parallel with the main and regulating devices included therein, the operation of said devices being made to depend upon the speed of rotation of the motor, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with an electric circuit, a generator driven at a constant rate of speed, and a motor, of an independent circuit, including the field-magnet coils of the said generator, a generator of relatively high eleetro' motive force included in said circuit and driven at a constant'rate of speed, and an opposing generator of relatively low electro-motive force driven at aspeed corresponding to that of the 91 9 5. The combination, with a driving-engine, a generator, a motor, and a circuit including the motor and the armature of the generator, of an independent circuit, including the field magnet coils of the generator, a generator of relatively high elcctro-motive' force included in said circuit and connected with the driving engine, and an opposing gcnera-torof relatively low electro-motive force connected with or driven by the motor, substantially as set forth.

i In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of October, 1882.

EDYVARD. VESTON Witnesses:

BARKER W. PAGE, W. Fraser. 

